King had considered Tennessee, Texas and Vanderbilt, but the small number of players in his recruitment is suggestive that many colleges figured it was likely he would stay close to home.

King is rated the No. 28 prospect in the nation by ESPN. Sporting News watched King play this summer at the Nike EYBL at the Peach Jam tournament, where he struggled to find his rhythm as he coped with the aftereffects of a concussion suffered during a previous event.

His play in one pool-play game was so dreadful it appeared he couldn’t have been worthy of the No. 228 ranking in the nation, but he recovered the following day to score 22 points and hit three times from 3-point range against a capable team from the Kansas City area that included elite prospect Shimi Ojeleye.

King said then that his coach with the Bluff City Legends, Todd Day, didn’t want to continue playing him in the tournament. “But I was like, I’ve got to play,” King said. “I wanted to win so bad. I guess I should have stayed out. I’m just trying to play my hardest.”

King becomes the latest high-level prospect from Memphis to remain in the area and choose the Tigers and coach Josh Pastner, following a trend set with the class of Joe Jackson, Chris Crawford and Tarik Black, who are now juniors and have won the Conference USA Tournament in each of their two seasons at the school.

The C-A’s Smith reported that among those who attended King’s announcement were two high-level prospects from the city: wing Markel Crawford of Melrose High, who committed to Memphis in early August, and Southwind High playmaker Jajuan Johnson, who played with King for Bluff City.